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Jewelry--watches, rings earrings, necklaces, bracelets and other items--comprised the most-claimed insured loss category in 2011, replacing electronics as the top claims category, according to contents claims aggregator Enservio.

The average price per ring claimed increased by X% in 2011 compared to 2010, and the average price per jewelry item increased by XX% in 2011 compared to 2010, said Keith Pequeno, senior vice president of marketing for Enservio.

"Not as many people [are] splurging for high-end electronics as they did in 2010," added Enservio marketplace business analyst Chris Mills.

Mills noted that the number of jewelry items claimed in 2011, based on data submitted to Enserrio, spiked XX% over 2010, while electronics claims were up only XX% year-over-year.

"The continued increase in the price of precious gems and metals has quite a bit to do with that," Pequeno said. "Outside of the continued rise in the price of gold, the average price of silver increased in 2011 by XX% when you look at statistics from the Silver Institute."

Overall, jewelry in 2011 represented XX% of Enservio's Replacement Cost Value, the yardstick it uses to advise insurers when settling claims. Electronics was XX% of RCV last year.

The privately-held company, based in Needham, Mass., creates "contents inventories" that place actual market costs on thousands of individual items, and then makes software solutions that match claimed items with their actual worth.

Enservio has more than XXX insurance companies as clients and it sends trained field inventory specialists to visit claimants to help them remember and describe the lost item. A "loss" means "lost, damaged or stolen," Enservio said, while its criteria for matching claimed items to its inventories is based on "like, kind and quality."

"Jewelry, Electronics and Tools [categories] account for XX% of all RCV claimed for theft" in 2011, according to Pequeno, "where for all categories those same categories only account for XX% of all claimed."

The data Enservio analyzes provides some quirky insights, he added.

"Certain subcategory increases are interesting, such as ashtrays claimed increased XX%, whereas the population overall is smoking less."

Pequeno added: "On the other hand, the percentage of maps claimed decreased by XX% which would make sense in a world driven by GPS."